Shuten
Dōji ('Yorimitsu and the drunken
monster of Mount Ibuki'), a handscroll
painting

JapanEdo period, 17th
century AD

This handscroll illustrates the legend of how
an ogre called Shuten Dōji ('The Drunken Boy') was
killed by the warrior Minamoto Yorimitsu (who actually lived AD
948-1021).

Shuten Dōji
lured young women to his lair in the mountains where he kept them
prisoner and sometimes ate them. Yorimitsu and his four companions
deceived the monster by disguising themselves as
yamabushi
('mountain monks'). They made him drunk, then cut
off his head, freeing the district from this terrible peril. In
this scene the warriors, disguised as monks, cross a ravine by way
of a fallen pine trunk. They carry portable shrines on their backs.
Some locals point and welcome them with obvious pleasure and
relief. The historical Yorimitsu was a warrior who served the Heian
court by getting rid of robbers and pirates, suggesting why this
legend was attached to
him.

The composition of the
scroll is based on a famous set of scrolls attributed to Kanō
Masanobu (1476-1559). The lively detail and energy are clearly
Kanō' in style, but the earthy vigour suggests that it was
commissioned by a rich townsman rather than by a
daimyō.